The following is a statement by Oswaldo Payd Sardinias, head of the Christian
Liberation Movement in. Cuba, regarding the recent incident at Mexican Embassy
in Havana.

Our position is:

One of respect toward Mexican President Vicente Fox and
Chancellor Jorge Castaņeda. It is of under standing of the complexity of the
Cuban topic in Mexico and of the pressures being exerted from multiple
directions upon them, aimed at preventing a rapprochement with the entire Cuban
people, that is, with all sectors of our society.

Fox's and Castaņeda's meeting with us [on Feb. 28 in Havana)
made a good impression on Cubans. It opened a new stage in people-to-people
relations between Mexico and Cuba.

We shall not take, and are not taking, any steps to make the
Mexican government vote one way or another in Geneva. Our position is defined in
the document of March 4, All United. We believe that pressures also exist
here and that they [the Mexicans] possess enough elements to assume a stance based on an
ethical point of view.

We do not believe the version handed out concerning the events
at the embassy. Neither the exile community nor the internal dissidence provoked
or manipulated the people who went in. In any case, we believe that playing
along with this charade will lead to a confrontation with the Mexican government
and the Mexican community in the United States. It would mean falling into a
trap and playing into the hands of those who wish to hinder the good course of
relations between Mexico and the Cuban people.

After these moments of heightened emotion and tension, we must
resume with greater intensity the dialogue and relations with the Mexican
government and with those political and social sectors that desire [dialogue],
as well as with all the people.

It is up to the Mexican government to freely decide if it will demand or
carry out an investigation of these events.